5 years time

I have looked into the avaliable courses at Falmouth University and have found three that have taken my interest. The three are: English with Media Studies BA(Hons), Film BA(Hons) and English with Creative Writing BA(Hons).
English with Media Studies:
http://www.falmouth.ac.uk/201/courses-7/undergraduate-courses-42/english-with-media-studies-bahons-67.html
Film:
http://www.falmouth.ac.uk/201/courses-7/undergraduate-courses-42/film-bahons-170.html
English with Creative Writing:
http://www.falmouth.ac.uk/201/courses-7/undergraduate-courses-42/english-with-creative-writing-bahons-66.html

Out of all three, English with Creative Writing is what interests me the most. The reason I like this course is because it focuses on areas in literature, creative writing and the media, so combines the two other course as well.

Health and Safety

In our media lecture today, we had a tour around the Zennor building that we will be moving into next Monday. Before we got to look around though, a health and safety adviser on the site, told us all that we needed to know to stay safe in building sites. He presented a 5 minute slideshow, showing what equipment we needed to have to protect ourselves and what we need to be aware of on the premises.
The equipment required on the tour were, hats, gloves and high visibility jackets.

Photography

In my most recent photography lectures, the rest of the group and I had a quick tour through the new porthcurnow building. The purpose of doing this was so we could gain ideas for where we can shoot any videos, or take any pictures for our commission ideas. We also experimented with the cameras so that we knew how to use one when it comes to producing our materials.

Graphic Design

In my most recent graphic design lectures, I have been working on the start of the magazine idea. Before jumping into designing and creating any magazine drafts, I have been recording what exactly it is that I would like to include in the idea. I have documented the size of the magazine, whether it will be in black and white or in colour, the text I will use, the font I will use and also things like the graphics I will be creating in Photoshop. Once I have finished any pre-production work on the idea, I will then start creating drafts and approach Martin Tucker so he can see where I am going with the idea, and whether he likes the drafts or whether he wants them to be changed.

Film

In my film lectures, I have been building the foundations of the promotional video, by concentrating on when, where and how I am going to film my idea. I will soon put my thoughts on to pre-production material, such as storyboards, but first have to take into consideration the requirements that have to be dealt with, such as health and safety and risk assessments.

Music Technology

Most recently in our music technology lectures, we have now been developing our ideas for the commission project. Now that we have completed our pitches, we know what idea Martin wants us all to work on. In my pitch, Martin said to me that he would like me to work on each of my ideas, but keep the promotional video as my main priority. Therefore, I have been more working on this idea in music, and trying to keep the development on this idea in this lecture, as music based as I can. In my last lecture, I was experimenting with the soundtrack for my promotional video. I have been listening thoroughly to the Nike advert that I found inspiration in and tried analysing what sort of music they used for their video. By doing this, I gained some insight on what sort of music I could include in my video. I then tried creating music in Logic Pro.

Trengwainton Gardens Easter Egg Idea

Today, the rest of the group and I developed the idea of a possible easter egg hunt that will be based in Trengwainton Gardens. We talked about splitting the Gardens into about 4 quatars and hiding pictures of colour coded eggs in each quatar. Once a participator of the easter egg hunt has found all 4 colour coded eggs, they will win a prize. We have also developed a possible idea of making an extra picture of a golden egg, that will be hidden in a more challenging spot than the rest of them. Once this egg is found, an even bigger prize can be won.

Target Audience of my Ideas

The three ideas I have for the commission project is 1) Promotional video 2) Magazines 3) Posters. Two of the ideas, magazines and posters, are more specifically promoting the Creative and Media Diploma at the college. Both will target the same audience as both ideas will have a similar style to one another. The target audience for these ideas are 16-19 year olds. The reasons why this age range is our target audience for both ideas is because the ideas will be made to be arty, graphic and eye-catching. A younger audience would more likely be attracted to a design that consists of a style like this.

The other idea, promotional video, is targeting a much wider age range, which in fact, anyone could be attracted to. This is because the video will be shot all in the POV of a student. Therefore, everyone watching the video can put themselves in the perspective of a student at Penwith College.

Primary and Secondary Research

The primary research I did was interviewing both marketing managers for Penwith and Truro college. With them, we discussed most of the current materials used to promote both colleges, and the ages we believe each target. We also discussed what aspects have an influence on target audiences, such as what gets them attracted towards something - youths will be more attracted towards attractive designs, and adults would perhaps be more drawn towards informative use of of text in the marketing document. We focused more on the prospectuses because this product consisted of both an arty style that attracts youths, and text providing thorough information about each course, that would gain more attention from adults. We talked about what made the style so attractive to young people, and what makes the text so attracting to adults. We also talked about what could be made better, or would could be done different to the prospectus, to give the prospectus more of a chance of attracting even more of an audience. We also compared prospectuses that have been made over the years for the college, and what made one better than the other and why exactly it was better. This gave the other students and I more of an idea of how to go about our products when it comes to targeting an audience.

The secondary research that I carried out, was looking at influences for my own ideas that I have for promoting the college. My influences were the Nike advert, Empire magazine and movie posters. I also looked at previous promotional videos, and other materials used by the college that could relate to my ideas for promoting Penwith college, but found nothing as inspiring as what I had found in my own research. The research for my promotional video, the Nike advert, (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=anwlpTgbQTE) gave me a lot of inspiration and ideas. It gave me the idea of the POV shot, which I will use to allow all viewers to picture themselves in the perspective of a student at Penwith College. It also gave me the idea of a 'day in the life of'-like style video, that shows the progression from a beginner who's talent nurtures through the years. In my video, this will be used to show a student who's just started college, and works his way through the college years and gains a certificate at the end. The main research I made for the magazine idea, was in Empire, a monthly magazine giving thorough information about the world of film. The reason I thought this would be a good source for my research into my magazine idea, was because Empire magazine features the same sort of ideas I have for the content of my own magazine. It has a very arty and graphic design that always looks attractive and professional. It has very informative text in the magazine to, that also tries to get people motivated to watch the films they advertise. They do this by writing the information about films, in a very persuasive tone. I want to include persuasive information in my magazine so that I can get potential students motivated about coming to Penwith College more than any other in the local areas. Of course, as I have stated, I will also go about my magazine using a similar style to that of Empire, and include arty, attractive images on the magazine. For my final idea, the posters, the research I did into this was mainly through analysing movie posters. On movie posters, just like my magazine idea, includes arty designs and informative and persuasive text in its contents. I will also make the posters in A3 so that, like any poster's purpose, will capture the eye of the public.

The Brief

Martin Tucker, the director of Penwith college, came into our lecture on a Friday, and discussed the commission he wants us to do for him. The commission brief is to promote the new build at Penwith college by using various multimedia materials, and the marketing skills we have learnt and built on with the help of Emma Kelly, the marketing manager at Penwith College.

We asked him various questions, and recorded the feedback he gave us in our notepads. The questions we asked him and the feedback he gave us is written in the following:

What is our deadline? Feb 12th

What message would you like us to convey about the college through our products? Very student focused College. Good resources.

What's the unique selling point of the college? Good campus. Quality teaching. Good students. Good results. Friendly, warm and welcoming.

What mediums in specific should we work in? Any that directs our products towards our target audience.

What's our budget? Pitch the budget though our proposals.

What's the principal goal? Quality student experience.

What design agency would you usually use? Local company.

Is there anything in particular you would like us to document? New buildings. Education. Resources. View. Good students.

What health and safety requirements should we observe? Permission. Supervision.

What do you expect to see in a good proposal? Innovation. Different. Eye-catching.

What's our target audience? 16-19. Adult study - 19+.

How will our products be used in future? All marketing of the college.

Trengwainton Gardens

The rest of the media group and I are going to visit Trengwaiton Gardens. This is a National Trust site and the trip to the location could lead to possible further relations between myself and the National Trust. The trip could lead to work experience, or projects to help promote the Gardens and their fellow National Trust branches, using skills from the Creative and Media Diploma that we have learnt so far.

Pitch

On Friday 29th, the rest of the media group and I pitched our ideas to Martin Tucker, the head of Penwith College. My pitch went very well, and I felt that Martin thought my ideas were very interesting. The three ideas I had for the project, was a promotional video, magazines, and posters. These ideas seemed simple at first, but what I will include in my marketing ideas, is what caught the attention of Martin most of all. I decided that the promotional video will be filmed in the style of a particular Nike advert. The video will be set in one of the new buildings on the campus. On set, will be classrooms on either side of the corridor I wish to film in, where a student will be walking into each one. Each class will have a different course, and once the student has been in each course, the camera will cut to the student receiving a certificate at a graduation ceremony. The reasons I want to film a video is like this is because 1) Several courses are advertised in the video, showing potential students what these courses has to offer at the college and 2) The graduation ceremony at the end shows that Penwith gets results. Other than a 'day in the life of'-like video, another thing that got me inspired in the Nike advert, was the POV shot the whole way through. The reason I found this intriguing is because anyone watching the video, can put themselves in the perspective of the student. My second idea, the magazine, I believe was also good for several reasons. Firstly, what could be included in my magazine could really attract a big audience. The magazine is promoting more the Creative and Media Diploma course than the college itself, and in this magazine, I aim to include information about the course, but I also would like to make it persuasive, so I can entice more potential students into choosing the course when they come to college. I also would like to include a lot of graphic art in the magazine, symbolising the fun that the course can offer! Like the video, I explored into the magazine idea thoroughly too, and want to give my magazine a style much like Empire magazine. This magazine is very artsy, and also provides information about films (which is what they advertise), that is also very persuasive, as they want you to go and watch them. My third and final idea, is the poster. Similar to the magazine, I want to make the poster artsy, persuasive and informative about the course. Also, I would like to get some shops to sell the magazines and advertise the posters in their shop window so that people can see them for however along the shop is open for.

Photography

In our photography lectures, we have also been working on the commission project, but focusing more down the photography related route. This means that we have been developing ideas for the project that would stimulate our skills in photography, such as postcards or photos of the new build. Most recently, we have also been developing new skills in this part of the multimedia, by drawing with light. This is a fun exercise and is an interesting topic in photography.

Graphic Design

In our lectures for graphic design, we have been working on recreating posters that advertise the Creative and Media Diploma. This was a good exercise as it helped us develop new skills in the areas that were used in Photoshop, to develop a professional poster like the one we recreated.

Film

In our film lectures, we have been working thoroughly on our commission project, and finding ways of advertising the college through the multimedia. We have had two marketing managers who work for the Truro and Penwith Colleges, and have discussed ways of improving the current, and developing new materials to market the Penwith campus to the community. We have focused on promotional videos a lot, and studies different promotional videos used in the past to promote the college.

Music Technology

In music technology, the rest of the students and I have done a range of activities. We have spent most of the lessons planning our pitches and doing so has linked us to another activity that we have spent some of our other time on. This was listening to, and making radio jingles. We did this so that we could familiarise ourselves with this area of music in case we decided we wanted to continue with this route for the commission project. We have also spent time working and developing our skills in other areas of Logic Pro, and have also spent time learning chords on musical instruments.